How Fake Energy Drink Brawndo Came to Life

Or at least it wasn't, until a graphic designer from Oakland, California, began producing the beverage as an homage to his favorite film, according to The New York Times.

Brawndo was featured in the 2006 dystopian comedy Idiocracy, which imagined the future as a hyperconsumerism-drive society overrun by slack-jawed yokels. In the movie, Brawndo was a highly favored beverage, and the electrolyte-rich drink was marketed as a healthy alternative for watering plants, resulting in a global food shortage.

The film was quietly released by Fox, but director Mike Judge's indie cred (TheOffice Space [thx Ben!], Beavis and Butt-head) garnered the film a cult fan base.

That loyal following included Pete Hottelet, an Oakland-based graphic designer, who started a company, Omni Consumer Products, to bring fictional movie props like Brawndo to life.

Company name rings a vague bell? Hottelet borrowed the name from the fictional megacorporation in Robocob.

In addition to Brawndo, Omni has acquired from Paramount the license to market Sex Panther, a made-up cologne from Anchorman, the Will Ferrell, Stevel Carrell and Paul Rudd comedy.